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A 22-year-old Fort Bragg soldier came looking for a good time with a 14-year-old Guilford County girl he met in a Yahoo adults-only chat room ... but found sheriff's deputies instead.

He was arrested, charged with knowingly soliciting a person believed to be a child by computer with intent to commit an unlawful sex act, tried, convicted and sentenced to six to eight months in prison.

He appealed, claiming Guilford County Superior Court Judge Catherine Eagles should have granted his request to instruct the jury on the defense of entrapment.

Today, the N.C. Court of Appeals, in State v. Morse, unanimously supported Eagles' denial.

In short, the court said this crime originated in the mind of the defendant, not the officers who created the opportunity he thought he had to carry it out.

Defendant Chris Randolph Morse blew it from the beginning, entering the Yahoo adults-only chat room under the screen name "chris morse."

Why not just use the name "stupid"?

He began chatting with "baywatch142000," whose profile indicated "she" was a student named Jill Watson, with age listed as 114.

Maybe Morse had a thing for older women ... except the profile included a picture of a blond young woman. Furthermore, the "latest news" section of the profile said "actually 14," indicating Jill's supposed real age.

OK, "Jill" really was Deputy Gordy of the Guilford County Sheriff's Office, a 37-year-old male. The photo was that of Deputy Luther, a 22-year-old female also with the Sheriff's Office.

But Morse, of course, didn't know that. He continued to chat up Jill and made arrangements to meet her at her apartment while her parents were away for the weekend. He was rather explicit when describing the sort of activities he had in mind, even though he was clearly informed that "Jill" was 14 years old.

When he arrived at the appointed place and time, however, he had quite a shock. Deputy Luther opened the door, and also waiting was a another woman who identified herself as a local news reporter.

From the court opinion:

"The reporter told defendant to sit down on a couch across from her, which he did. The reporter then told defendant that she was aware of his chats with a girl whom defendant believed to be fourteen years old. The reporter asked defendant why he would engage in such sexually explicit chats with someone he believed to be fourteen years old and then drive to meet that person, believing that her parents were out of town. In response to the reporter's questions, defendant apologized and admitted it was wrong for him to be there."

This part of the case bothers me. Letting a (TV) news reporter in on an ongoing investigation is one thing. Letting her interview a suspect before the moment of arrest is out of line. Was this a law-enforcement operation or a TV entertainment/reality show?

At any rate, we advance to the issue of entrapment.

There's a two-part test, according to case law.

Entrapment is defined as: "acts of persuasion, trickery or fraud carried out by law enforcement officers or their agents to induce a defendant to commit a crime."

No doubt about the trickery in this case.

But also: "when the criminal design originated in the minds of the government officials, rather than with the innocent defendant, such that the crime is the product of the creative activity of the law enforcement authorities."

Eagles was right when she refused to instruct the jury on the entrapment defense because there wasn't evidence to support it, the appeals court ruling written by Judge Cliff Johnson said.

(Johnson is an emergency recall judge who sat during one court term last year. Judges Jim Wynn and Linda Stephens joined the decision.)

This is an interesting case because, to a layman, it might seem that Morse most definitely was entrapped by sheriff's deputies who created a fictitious 14-year-old. Morse was in a chat room supposedly reserved for adults only. One could argue he didn't go there with the original intent of hooking up with a child. And he might never have entertained the notion were it not for the trap set up by cyberspace cops.

Nevertheless, Morse could have backed out once the age issue popped up. He didn't. He fell for the idea of getting with a 14-year-old girl, and he actively pursued it. His intent was clear. He was remorseful and embarrassed when he was caught, but getting caught does that to a lot of offenders.

Internet predators are real, and they worry parents of teenagers. There's a public demand for law-enforcement agencies to do something to stop it.

In this case, ironically, no one would have been harmed because there was no real victim.

But a man who would arrange a meeting with a 14-year-old for the purpose of engaging in sex is a threat to real 14-year-olds.

In the final analysis, he was entrapped by his own inappropriate desires.